Authoritarianism has replaced the "sunshine" in The Sunshine State

01 Transgender Athlete Ban

It started in Jacksonville on the first day of Pride Month, June 1, 2021, when DeSantis signed a bill banning student transgender athletes from competing in female sports based on a non-existent hormonal advantage narrative.

SB 1028 made a female's eligibility for competition contingent on their "biological sex" on birth certificates issued on or "near" the time of a student's birth. Of course, it's all under the guise of protecting "our girls," as if we need a two-bit authoritarian politician to protect us.

And there he is, ever the opportunist, with his smarmy smile and his greasy arm around some hapless little child smiling for the camera. And we're talking about a child who is so young that she certainly doesn't understand what she's smiling for, I promise. You can see it in the linked article.

If that isn't enough symbolism for you, the bill was signed with much fanfare at the Trinity "Christian" Academy.

The party that supposedly rejects "big government" doesn't have a problem with it when they're oppressing their chosen target group. The legislation has been legally challenged. The actual court document can be seen here.

02 The CRT Ban

This egregious piece of garbage legislation is also referred to as The Stop Woke Act. This deceptive naming is designed to make you think teaching the truth about American history is a political issue. It isn't. Teachers are charged with disseminating facts to students, not lying about American history by omission. DeSantis even had the gall to mention MLK when talking about the legislation.

The legislation also prevents business from using diversity training in the workplace. Apparently, the freedom-loving politicians in Florida and their de-facto dictator have a problem with "guilt" but not with racism.

They also seem to have a problem with the snowflakes in their state being emotionally harmed by the truth, but they don't have a problem pretending that slavery, lynching, the KKK, the firebombing of churches, and other forms of oppression never happened, literally wiping out reality for an entire race of people. It's nothing short of disgusting, and actually underscores the virulence of the systemic racism the right wingers claim doesn't exist. 

No teacher teaches students to feel bad about themselves. From my perspective, however, young people are much more resilient than their bigoted elders. If the truth about history makes them feel a little bad about what was done, that's a positive. It's called empathy.

Teaching the truth is the only way to ensure we do not repeat the mistakes of the past. But then, the GOP and its racists aren't concerned about any of that. That's happening again under their watch in real time.

03 The Math Book Myth

We put this here because it relates to the paranoid delusions of the Stop Woke Act. In a show of absurdity, the DeSantis administration conducted a "thorough" investigation into the state of Florida's math book selections and found so many instances of CRT being slipped in that it forced them to ban 54 of the selections.

Apparently, instructions such as encouraging students to listen to one another and work cooperatively is a bit of a problem in the state of Florida. It's totally deceptive of these racist cretins to insinuate that this is about CRT indoctrination. It is merely the new target in the process of dismantling the entire public school system.

You'd have to assume that DeSantis is totally off the rails mentally, or an egregious opportunistic politician. I vote for the latter.

What it all boils down to is the real paranoia for the GOP, a thing called social and emotional learning. That is the one skill they surely do not want the future leaders of America learning.

04 Don't Say Gay, Flori-DUH

In March, DeSantis signed the controversial "Don't Say Gay" bill into law, which prohibits teachers from "teaching" sexual orientation and gender identity in grades K-3. The actual name of the bill is the Parental Rights in Education bill, but what it essentially does is prevent teachers from discussing these subjects should they come up in the classroom setting. The fact of the matter is that teachers do not "teach" sexual orientation or gender identity at all.

These are your tax dollars at work on wasted efforts for problems that do not exist. All of this is about power and pandering for votes. No such "lessons" are being taught in Florida schools, although discussions may come up in the classroom. What if a student asks a question about these topics? What is the teacher supposed to do? Children do not live in a bubble and may be exposed to something outside the classroom that they ask questions about. Do they not deserve a discussion?

Another interesting FACT is that most parents are okay with allowing discussions about sexual orientation and gender identity in a classroom setting, but Ron DeSantis doesn't want you to know that because that would blow his cover. He's now so full of himself that he just cannot stop. He is busy building ideological state in his own image and likeness. 

While some say DeSantis is following the lead of Hungary's strongman, Viktor Orban, others liken him to Vladimir Putin, particularly where the legislation on cultural issues are concerned. 

05 Banning transgender care

if you didn't think Florida's little dictator could get any uglier, you should think again as Florida has now banned gender-affirming care for children under the age of 18. No exceptions for children contemplating suicide. Simply do nothing is the message; ignore it. This is a disastrous position to take.

In spite of the fact that DeSantis and his anti-science lapdog surgeon general, Joseph Ladapo, are trying to legislate biological reality away, children who are gay will continue to be gay, and youth who identify as transgender will continue to do so.

Ladapo's directive is lacking in scientific evidence (just as his COVID advice was) and is based on what has been described as "moral panic."

All of this results in an ethical conflict for doctors who must decide between what the state wants and what respected medical experts agree, and research has confirmed, is the appropriate action. Simply put, gender-affirming care and social transitions can improve the mental health and general well-being of transgender children and adolescents.

Denying this care to children in this position is what any empathetic person would consider child abuse. Children should be seen and heard, particularly since a new study shows that transgender children know exactly who they are.

06 Restrictive abortion ban

Not to be outdone by other right-wing oppressors in Texas and Oklahoma, DeSantis' banner month of April also served up a 15-week abortion ban, which he gleefully signed as the protector of babies in the womb. This replaced Florida's previous 24-week abortion ban.

The legislation does not make an exception for cases of rape, incest or human trafficking. As always, men find a way to insist women should consider these pregnancies a blessing. It's easy to say when the other half of the baby-making equation gets to walk away the vast majority of the time.

It does make provisions if the woman's life or health are endangered. (She must be kept alive to give birth somewhere down the road and propagate the earth.) It also makes an exception for fetal abnormalities discovered after 15 weeks, but only with the approval of two doctors who state that a child will die shortly after birth.

As is always the case, marginalized women will have the added burden of traveling out of state to get their medical care.

The bill is modeled after the Mississippi legislation, which is the bill that is currently under consideration by the Supreme Court. There is no optimism on this one with a stacked ultra-conservative Supreme Court. It is anticipated that Roe v. Wade will be overturned sometime during the summer. If this is the case, it will take decades to overturn this decision, if ever.

If states are considered the laboratories for democracy; they can also be the proving ground for authoritarianism

Messing with The Mouse

Prior to passing his oppressive legislation against LGBTQ+ and transgender Americans, Disney wasn't even on DeSantis' radar. As they say, payback is a bitch, and DeSantis has learned a lot from his mentor. When Disney took a stand against the "Don't Say Gay" legislation, it became a target for DeSantis, and his legislature took up arms on his behalf, stripping Disney of its status as an "independent special district." This status was granted to them in 1967 under a Republican governor, no less. Under this status, Disney provided itself all services: electricity, water, roads, as well as police and fire protection. The district even taxed itself to take care of these services. DeSantis' vindictive posturing may very well cost his taxpayers dearly. You can read the details here. There is also the possibility that DeSantis' move will not stand up in court.